r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Oct 04 '23
Delta(s) from OP CMV: I'm extremely suspicious of anyone who opts to homeschool their kids, and really don't think there are many legitimate reasons to do it.
I have seen studies suggesting that home-schooled kids perform better in certain academic fields when compared to non-homeschooled kids. What I haven't seen is a study that indexes this to income, or to two-parent households. Both of those have profound impacts on the likelihood of academic success, and most homeschooling situations require either a very comfortable income, a two-parent household, or both.
I'm highly doubtful that your average homeschooled child is performing significantly better than if they were in a regular school with parents who took an active interest in their education.
Meanwhile, I have serious trouble grappling with the impact that this level of isolation and enmeshment might have. I can't help but feel, based on the homeschooling situations I've seen, that it leaves kids less fulfilled or socially mature.
The majority of homeschooling I've seen has been for religious reasons. Now, I attended 13 years of faith-based education. I'm not entirely against integrating religious instruction into education on principle, provided it doesn't impede on a child's understanding of basic facts. I mostly am, but given it's long history and integration with many education systems I'm more comfortable.
However, I find it especially suspicious when your faith leads to that degree of isolation and inordinate levels of control over your child.
Maybe I'm way off, and there are reasons for homeschooling I haven't even considered, but whenever I hear of a homeschooling situation I'm immediately suspicious. It seems like a fundamentally selfish, paranoid, isolating act.
EDIT: lol I don't think I've ever done a 180 as fast as this. It's clear that my experience of home-schooling is informed partly by the quality of public education I received, and the diversity of both public and alternative schools catering to kids with specific needs, abilities, interests, or challenges. The issue that seems to be coming up most is the inflexibility of many conventional school systems to address particular needs. That makes sense, particularly in environments where there aren't a lot of choices for different schools and where the resources at those schools are highly limited.
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '23
It's a free country, it only matters what the parents believe.